Shooter game uses real Japanese bow as interface

All fired up: Light Shooter

(Credit: DigInfo TV)

Traditional Japanese archery, or kyudo, involves drawing a bow that can be taller than the archer himself.

You wouldn’t think a long flexible bamboo pole makes for a great gaming interface, but Masasuke Yasumoto of Tokyo University of Technology would disagree.

He developed a game called Light Shooter that makes use of a traditional bow, or yumi, as a shooting device.

The bow doesn’t fire arrows, but it does have a strain gauge as well as acceleration and magnetic sensors.

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In a darkened room, players aim at on-screen figures and animals formed of lines and dots, draw the bow, and release the string. A computer calculates the tra… [Read more]

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